Dear LCCC viewer
and reader: Below is an example of a mislead journalist and a blatant
Hezbollah forged and fabricated media evil tactic. Meanwhile the responses
emailed to the journalist and his apology proves too that truth is stronger than
lies and it is worth writing always to the media and addressing issues with
facts and courage
http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=6112
Canvassing South Lebanon for ways to help
The following article is an email from a group of international
activists who are in Lebanon to show solidarity and assist in the rebuilding.
By Paul Larudee -Arabic American News
Beirut - Large areas of Siddiqine, Bint Jbeil and many other villages and towns
are completely devastated. We spoke to one driver whose car was piled high with
foam mattresses. He said he was from the local village but couldn't figure out
where his house had been. I filled my camera with frame after frame of
destruction, but soon realized the futility of it all, and limited myself to
shots that had a unique and often ironic twist to them, such as the suggestion
box framed with destruction in a recently beautiful new school where our team
member Maryam had taught. I asked her a few questions while the camera was
running, but the references to details of life before the invasion brought tears
to her eyes where there had only been surprise. Why hit the schools?
Huge craters cut many of the roads and pulverized some areas of the towns. At
least half the houses were uninhabitable, but many did not exist at all. There
was talk of a special type of bomb or artillery shell that made a strange crater
that was deep but not wide. Were these "bunker busters?" I took some pictures of
unexploded ordnance on the ground, including a huge shell with the number 500 on
it and some Hebrew writing. I'm hoping Huwaida will be able to translate it.
Thankfully, I found no signs of cluster bombs, but brought back some shrapnel
that is as heavy as lead but not as soft. Is it depleted uranium? I hope to find
out. That is associated with "bunker busters," and it's my understanding that
while the shrapnel is not particularly dangerous to handle, it turns to dust and
burns when it strikes hardened steel, creating a cancerous long term
environmental disaster. I hope my worst fears are unfounded.
In the village of Aita al-Shaab we found a family sifting by hand through the
remains of their house. They found what they were looking for, the bodies of the
grandparents, several weeks old and not all in one piece. They were no longer
human beings, but rather masses of putrid, rotting flesh falling off the bones,
leaving an unmistakable stench that was only partially mitigated by some
coverings that the family had placed to try to preserve a shred of dignity.
In her grief, the daughter of the elderly couple launched into an indictment of
George Bush and the U.S. relationship with Israel, which I was fortunate enough
to capture on film:
"Let the people of America see our children. Let all Americans know what Mr.
Bush has done to us, that this is his democracy, his "New Middle East." We don't
blame Israelis. We have always known what they are. I have a two-year-old baby
who can't stop saying, 'They broke my house. I want my house.' Can the American
president answer this child? Have the American people no reaction to the gifts
of Mr. Bush to the people of Lebanon? He cares more about a dog than for the
killing of an entire nation. Does he want to kill the people of the Middle East
to create a 'land without people'? We are the Middle East, and without us there
is none. Heaven without angels is not heaven. I do not blame the Israelis. I
blame Bush, who proclaims democracy and humanity and freedom and dignity, to be
imposed upon the entire world with steel and fire, while he professes to believe
in God. That's what I want to tell Mr. Bush. I'm looking for my Mom and Dad
underneath these ruins. To me they are everything, and even a grain of the soil
of this land is more honorable than Mr.Bush. He cannot rule our country even
under fire. Even if we are dead, we will be free. His great technology is
useless. Is this the way to use technology? Let him learn how to use technology
for good. He cannot rule us this way. We are honored to give our blood for our
country, even our souls and our houses. We live under the sun of freedom, while
he [Bush] has no honor. We've been looking for my parents for 22 days, but of
course this is of no interest to Mr. Bush. Let Americans know that the hunger
that they suffer is so that Israel can have the weapons to destroy Arab
countries. I hope that Americans learn the reality of what is going on. We will
stay here. This is our land. We are not afraid of them and their weapons."
As we continued to survey the region, I had expected to see some of the 30,000
Israeli soldiers that were supposedly deployed there. My experience in Palestine
made me think that there would be checkpoints and controls everywhere and that I
would find myself face to face with Israeli troops throughout the trip. I was
therefore surprised to see only three soldiers atop a tank on a hill above the
road during the entire day. Even when we drove right next to the border, there
was no evidence of troops on either side. This is occupation? What controls are
the multinational force going to take over?
Of course there was plenty of evidence that they had been there recently. They
had painted graffiti, broken into some of the homes, put their cigarettes out on
the furniture, eaten the food, smashed nearly everything that could be smashed
and vandalized wedding pictures and pictures of the Virgin Mary. (Just to show
you the misconceptions Westerners hold about religious attitudes here, the house
belonged to a Muslim man who simply liked to venerate this Christian icon of his
fellow Lebanese.)
One of the most surreal parts of the trip was when we passed through the town of
Ein Ebel. It was untouched, not a single bullet, shell or tank track. Not a
crack in the road nor a wall overturned. It was as if the war had never happened
here, and indeed in some ways it had not. This was the village of Christian
allies of Israel who had served as proxy forces and torturers of their fellow
citizens during Israel's invasion from 1982 to 2000. Although there are no
longer any direct confrontations between them and their Hizbullah neighbors, it
pays not to stir things up. On the other hand, I ventured to the rest of our
team, (Ismail, who had used his car for the trip, Maryam, whose home is
Siddiqine, Shirine, at whose place we had spent the night in Tyre and Aisha, an
American filmmaker), that this might be the ideal place to buy gasoline; if any
place might have a protected supply, this would be it.
We agreed and found the station. It was decided that as the oldest, I would do
the negotiating, and that Ismail would be my "driver." I got out of the car and
asked if they had gas. They said they did and asked where I was from. I said I
was American and they asked how I spoke such good Arabic. I said I was married
to a Lebanese. From where? Rashmaya, in the Northern Shouf mountains, from the
El-Khoury family, related to the first (Christian) president of Lebanon and to
the head of one of the important Christian clans of Lebanon.
Having thus shamelessly used my wife's "royalty" and played upon the Lebanese
sectarianism, I found all doors open to us. We filled with gas and one of their
number guided us in his car along a special route that went near his house,
where he invited us to return. Although we declined, it again confirmed that if
we perceive a stranger as a friend, the causes of mistrust and hatred, of
Christian and Muslim, Jew and Arab, "them" and "us" turn to dust. It seems so
simple.
Mr Siblani,
This e-mail is in reference to Paul Larudee article published in your
newspaper and Posted on the net (Canvassing South Lebanon for ways to
help):http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=6112
In Section 8th, Mr Larudee wrote and I quote him:
"One of the most surreal parts of the trip was when we passed through the town
of Ein Ebel. It was untouched, not a single bullet, shell or tank track. Not a
crack in the road nor a wall overturned. It was as if the war had never happened
here, and indeed in some ways it had not. This was the village of Christian
allies of Israel who had served as proxy forces and torturers of their fellow
citizens during Israel's invasion from 1982 to 2000".
After reading this section, I was disgusted and convinced that Mr Larudee’s trip
was surreal part. In fact I doubt that Mr Larudee’s passed by Ain-Ebel. Here are
some of my comments on the article and Mr Larudee observations:
1.Paul Larudee misspelled the name of the village. For reference it is not
Einebel it is Ain-Ebel. There are large signs posted on the streets that he
claims to have driven on.2.Mr Larudee failed to mention that the town was
disserted from it is people, at one point I thought he was about to say that he
did stop for a drink in one of its shops. In fact American citizens with and
some of them live in Michigan (Where your newspaper is published) were evacuated
from Ain-Ebel to Tyr and then to the US.
3.The fact that Mr Larudee did not observe any destruction strikes me, I will
reserve my comments for myself and ask you to check a sample of the destruction
that Paul Larudee failed to observe
http://www.ainebel.net/Photo%20Gallery/Ain-Ebel%20-1-/
4.Mr Larudee’s accusation of Ain-Ebel being a Christian ally of Israel is a
complete ferry tale that he likes to believe. We are a proud Lebanese Village
and we will always remain. I would challenge Mr Larudee to quote the source of
his information.
Mr Siblani
As the Chief Editor of the American Arab News, A newspaper that have been in
circulation for 22 years, I urge you to correct Mr Larudee’s mistake and keep
the integrity of a successful Arab newspaper published in the US.
Regards,
Patrick Diab
Toronto, Canada
aline atme <allaineblies@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
Dear all i guess we all angree about what came in that article about AinEbel. i
took the liberty to send him an email and got the reply, it is attached as HTML
and TXT. please let me know if you have problem opening.
Regards
Samir
From: PAUL LARUDEE [larudee@pacbell.net]
Sent: Monday, 21 August 2006 04:18 AM
To: samir@lanaccess.com.au
Subject: Re: Your Article in the Arabamericannewa
You are right. I don't know all the places that have published my words, so
please send my apology to wherever you found them. I will try to send it
wherever possible:
I wish to offer a public apology to the people of Ain Ebel for the description
and comments that I wrote recently about their village. I received many
criticisms, most of them justified. My comments were ill-considered, and my
suspicions insufficiently supported. I have been guilty of thoughtlessness,
insensitivity and of making matters worse. It was stupid of me to say such
things. I wish I could retract what is already public, but the best I can do is
apologize and ask for the help of my critics in disseminating my apology to the
places where they found my offensive words. I will try to make amends.
Paul Larudee
20 August, 2006
Samir Atme <samir@lanaccess.com.au> wrote:
Dear Mr. Paul Larudee
After reading your article about your trip to south Lebanon and mentioned your
passing through a village called EinEbel, I was very disturbed and angry about
such lies and deceit, nothing you have mentioned in your article was correct,
your are deceiving your fellow Americans and all the western world that you
belong to, and I bet that this article only been published by your friends the
Hezbollah’s of the world who live in the western civilization and they always
contradict it policies and the way play politics, but I guess this is called
democracy. I dare those Arab who live in the western civilization to go to an
Arab country and write things about there government or dictators.
And this will bring us to the heart of the subject about EINEBEL that you have
passed and you did not see any evidence about destruction or as you put it
“untouched” by the bombs of Israel. I suggest you go and get you eyes and
dignity as a reporter or as part of an organisation that suppose to investigate
and tell the truth about things, because I think you lack of honest and unbiased
judgement. Mr Larudee you are a disgrace to those entire organisation that you
belong to, and I am not afraid to say this very loudly.
The fact is, that 70% of Einebel’s homes have been destroyed completely of
partially, and we have the proof of it, and I would like you to follow this link
for just a small sample http://www.ainebel.net/Photo%20Gallery/Ain-Ebel%20-1-/.
And the other fact is that local media was prevented from going into the town of
EinEbel by the Hezbollah fighter just to cover up what they are doing and how
they are shooting their rocket from between homes occupied by civilians,
unfortunately the local media has to do this just to keep the tension amongst
the Lebanese people down and to prevent from another civil war disaster.
I believe that an apology to EinEbel and to the Einebely people is in order.
Regards,
Samir Atme
A concerned EinEbely